Boat Mishap: 16 Dead Bodies, Recovered including Children, as Search Continues

By Kamsi Anayo

16 dead bodies have been recovered in the Ogbaru local government area boat mishap in Anambra state.

But the State Emergency Management Agency, says, the Search continues.

The former Transition Committee Chairman of Ogbaru local government area, Arinze Awogu, gave the figure of recovered dead bodies as 13.

He said before the end of the day, they believe that more would be recovered, adding that it had not been an easy task.

“All hands are on deck. Recovering the bodies will not be easy and before night today , we hope more bodies will be found ” Awogu said

But one of the indigenes of the area, Eze Ogbugbulu, said that 16 bodies had been recovered, including children.

The boat carrying 85 passengers capsized in River Niger, Anambra state at the weekend, with 76 of them suspected to be dead

The Executive Secretary of SEMA and former Secretary to Anambra State Government, Chief Paul Odenigbo, said that only nine persons were rescued after the incident.

According to him, ” for now, I can’t quote any figure of dead bodies recovered because it’s a continuous process. The agency has not rested since then.

“When something like this happens, it takes up to a week before you start seeing the bodies because, they will go down deep in the river.

“What happened was pathetic and regrettable. It will take sometime before the bodies come up and start floating in the water.

“Out of the 85 persons on board, only nine were rescued and since we’ve not seen the rest, it’s assumed something bad must have happened. It’s quite unfortunate ” Odenigbo said

For Ogbugbulu, majority of the people in the boat, were not from their area in Osamalla, but those farmers in camps working .

“To tell you the truth, majority of the people in that capsized boat are from Okpolodu camp in Ogwu-anocha, the last Community before Rivers state and Mputu.

“It is difficult to recover those bodies because some of the bodies will hang in some of the metals and trees inside the river.

“But as we talk now, we learnt 16 bodies were recovered late Saturday and we’re still waiting today (Sunday) to see what will happen. It’s a difficult situation for us.

“We are talking about the flood that has submerged virtually every building in Ogbaru and now this “Ogbugbulu lamented.